Court Digest

California
Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud appears in court
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud after authorities said she concealed her military ties to China in order to work in the U.S. made her first appearance Monday in federal court by video.

Juan Tang, 37, was appointed a federal public defender and U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes ordered Tang to remain in custody, saying she is a flight risk, while her attorney prepares an argument to allow her release on bail.

The Justice Department last week announced charges against Tang and three other scientists living in the U.S., saying they lied about their status as members of China’s People’s Liberation Army. All were charged with visa fraud.

Prosecutors said Tang lied about her military ties in a visa application last October as she prepared to work at the University of California, Davis and again during an FBI interview in June. Agents found photos of Tang dressed in military uniform and reviewed articles in China identifying her military affiliation, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Tang sought refuge at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after speaking with agents in June. U.S. marshals arrested her Friday and booked her into Sacramento County Jail, where she remains.

Heather Williams, a federal defender, said its common practice for people to seek help from their consulate when dealing with law enforcement abroad, and doing so did not make Tang guilty of anything, she said..

Williams added that U.S. agents took Tang’s passport, forcing her young daughter to travel to China alone.

It’s too soon to know what the photos of Tang mean, and she might have made a mistake on the visa application, the lawyer said.

“We do know that our government seems to be increasingly hostile to China and we hope Dr. Tang isn’t paying the price for that hostility,” she said.

The University of California, Davis said Tang left her job in June as a visiting researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology.

The arrests come as tensions rise between China and the U.S.

Massachusetts
Court won’t toss case of judge charged in immigrant’s escape
The case against a Massachusetts state court judge accused of helping a man who was living in the U.S. illegally sneak out of the courthouse to evade an immigration enforcement agent can move toward trial, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin rejected Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph’s bid to dismiss the obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges against her. No trial date has been set.

An attorney for Joseph, Thomas Hoopes, declined to comment.

Joseph and former court officer Wesley MacGregor were charged last year  on accusations that they schemed to let the man escape after a hearing on charges that included drug possession. Sorokin also denied MacGregor’s motion to dismiss on Monday.

Authorities say an immigration agent was in the courtroom to detain the man when he appeared in the Newton courthouse in April 2018. The Dominican man had twice been deported and had been barred from entering the U.S. until 2027, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Joseph’s clerk asked the agent to leave the courtroom and told him that the suspect would be released into the courthouse lobby. Instead, after the hearing, MacGregor led the defendant downstairs to the lockup and let him out a rear door, prosecutors say.

The man was caught by immigration officials about a month later.

Joseph’s lawyers have blasted prosecutors for what the defense has called an “extraordinary sweetheart deal granting complete immunity” to the immigrant’s defense attorney, who they say was the “architect and ringleader” of the man’s escape plan.

Her lawyers say Joseph had no idea about the plan, but they argue that even if the allegations were true, judicial immunity shields judges from liability for acts acts “taken in their judicial role.” The defense has also slammed her prosecution as politically motivated and have accused federal authorities of trying to intimidate others into enforcing their immigration policies.

“The alleged actions of one state district court judge, in an unexceptional case in an ordinary courtroom, have become the vehicle through which the federal government seeks to threaten those in state government whom they view as insufficiently supportive of its immigration policies,” her attorneys said in a court filing this spring.

Ohio
Family of man shot by off-duty cop reaches $1.2M settlement
CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — The family of an Ohio man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Cleveland police supervisor in 2018 has reached a partial settlement for $1.2 million.

According to court documents, the parents of Thomas Yatsko signed off on a partial settlement with the companies that own the bowling alley where the shooting happened on July 14, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday.

The owners of the former Corner Alley Uptown are the only party to settle, according to the documents. Litigation against Cleveland and Sgt. Dean Graziolli remains ongoing.

Yatsko’s parents — Melissa Yatsko and Darian Allen — appealed U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s decision to dismiss their claims against the city and Graziolli.

A grand jury declined to indict Graziolli and Cleveland police make disciplinary decisions after all litigation has completed.

Kentucky
Sen. Rand Paul’s attacker receives longer prison sentence
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s former neighbor was resentenced Monday to an extra seven months behind bars and six months in home detention for tackling and injuring the Kentucky lawmaker over a lawn care dispute.

Rene Boucher originally was given a 30-day sentence after pleading guilty to assaulting a member of Congress. Federal prosecutors argued the sentence was too lenient, describing the 2017 attack outside Paul’s home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as “vicious and unprovoked.” They sought at least 21 months for Boucher.

On Monday, another federal judge ordered Boucher to serve eight months in prison followed by six months of home confinement for the assault. He was given credit for the 30 days he’s already served behind bars.

Paul, a former presidential candidate, suffered multiple broken ribs and later underwent lung and hernia surgeries that he linked to the attack.

“Dr. Boucher is going to accept his punishment and he has sincerely apologized to the Pauls again today,” said Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker. “He wants to put this behind him.”

Paul sued Boucher over the attack, and a jury last year awarded the Republican lawmaker more than $580,000 in damages and medical expenses. Paul had testified during that trial that he feared for his life as he struggled to breathe after Boucher, an anesthesiologist by trade, slammed into him in their upscale Bowling Green neighborhood in late 2017. Boucher testified that he attacked Paul after watching the senator form a brush pile near their property line.

Boucher has since sold his home, his attorney said.

West Virginia
White police officers sued over Black man’s beating
WESTOVER, W.Va. (AP) — A Black West Virginia man has filed a federal lawsuit against a police chief and two white officers accused of pulling him from his home and beating him, fracturing facial bones and causing other serious injuries, according to the suit.

The lawsuit brought by Andre Howton this month in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of West Virginia names Westover Police Chief Richard Panico and officers Zachary Fecsko and Aaron Dalton.

Fecsko is accused of violating Howton’s civil rights by “unlawfully seizing” and using excessive force against him, while Dalton is accused of failing to intervene, among other allegations against the two. The lawsuit said Panico hired the officers despite previous records of violence.

The lawsuit alleged Fecsko struck Howton more than 13 times after responding to Howton’s home to help remove a woman from the residence on New Year’s Day in 2019. According to the lawsuit, Fecsko also called Howton “boy” because of his race, and then assaulted him while Dalton encouraged the beating,

The 22-minute encounter was captured on Dalton’s body camera, news outlets reported.

The two later denied Howton aid for his injuries, the lawsuit alleged.

Dalton used to work for the Fairmont Police Department but resigned after his involvement in the beating of a handcuffed man and Feckso had previously been charged with domestic battery after a violent encounter with an ex-girlfriend, according to the lawsuit.

Chief Panico said the department would not comment on the lawsuit, citing a pending investigation into Howton not related to previous charges against the plaintiff that were dropped in the 2019 case, according to WDTV.

California
Ex-UCLA coach pleads guilty to accepting $200K in bribes
A former University of California, Los Angeles men’s soccer coach pleaded guilty Monday to accepting $200,000 in bribes to help two students get into the school as recruits.

Jorge Salcedo, 47, admitted to participating in the college admissions bribery scheme involving TV celebrities, other wealthy parents and elite universities across the country.

Salcedo was paid $100,000 to help California couple Bruce and Davina Isackson get their daughter into UCLA as a bogus soccer recruit, prosecutors said. The Isacksons have also pleaded guilty and have been cooperating with authorities in the hope of getting a lighter sentence.

Salcedo also took a $100,000 bribe from the admissions consultant at the center of the scheme, Rick Singer, to “recruit” the son of Xiaoning Sui, of Surrey, British Columbia, to his team, authorities said. Singer and Sui have also pleaded guilty.

Salcedo pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in a hearing held in front of a Boston federal court judge via videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said she would decide whether to accept his plea deal at a later date after further review.

He’s the sixth coach to plead guilty in the high-profile case. Three other coaches are fighting the charges.

The coaches were paid in exchange for labeling students as recruits for sports they didn’t play to help them get into the schools, authorities said. Other parents paid bribes to have someone cheat on their kids entrance exams.

Nearly 30 prominent parents have pleaded guilty in the case dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.”

They include “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who admitted to paying $15,000 to have someone rig her daughter’s SAT score.

“Full House” actor Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have pleaded guilty to paying half a million dollars to get their daughters into the University of Southern California.

The famous couple is scheduled to be sentenced in August. If the judge accepts their plea deals, Loughlin will be sentenced to two months behind bars and Giannulli will get five months.

Rhode Island
Judge rules another
solar project may proceed
RICHMOND, R.I. (AP) — A superior court judge ruled that another solar energy project in Rhode Island may move forward, despite concerns of residents and the town about the site.
In a decision on Monday, the judge overruled a vote by the zoning board of Richmond, Rhode Island, that would have stopped the development of a large solar project on the site of a former turf farm, the Providence Journal reported.
The judge said members of the board wrongly concluded that the site did not comply with zoning regulations that mandated the renewable energy project be within 2 miles (3 kilometers) of a substation.
The site of the proposed project is within 2 miles of an Amtrak substation, and within 2.1 miles of a National Grid substation.
The town plans to appeal the decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Richmond town solicitor Karen Ellsworth told the newspaper.
Freepoint Solar LLC is developing the solar farm in Richmond and has already reached an agreement with National Grid for the project, the newspaper reported.